Websites are no less than the showcase of firms. Nowadays, the vast majority of us go to the internet when it comes to buying a certain product or service. We look for reviews and web spaces that generate trust and provide security, whether to buy clothes, hire a trip, look for a restaurant or seek legal advice, to give a few examples.

And it is that the legal sector should not remain oblivious to the digitization process that we are currently experiencing. The website is our digital showcase to the world, to our market and potential clients, and the websites of law firms are no exception. A showcase that will be adapted according to sales needs, the time of year, certain promotions, etc. The objective will be for the person attracted by the products in this window to enter the store, like what they see, buy and even recommend it to third parties.

We are talking about the office's online showcase, a space that has to be worked on in great detail, both in substance and in form, keeping it updated at all times and constantly making it more dynamic. So now, what are the most common mistakes in law firms when developing the web?

1. Lack of goals and Strategy

A website is not something that has to be created in isolation, without considering the firm's strategy. It must be consistent with the objectives and style of the office. A very common mistake is to propose web design and development without being clear about the reason for that website. Why do I want the web? Do I want to enhance my brand image, will it have a direct commercial and recruitment purpose? What role will content generation through posts play?

On the other hand, who do you address? If we are not clear about the target audience, what style are we going to give to the web? How will the language be used? It is not the same to talk about you than about you, for example.

2. Little differentiation

If we stop to analyze the websites of some law firms, we will see that there is very little differentiation. A large number of websites have the same structure, pages and even names of said pages. “I want a website just like this”, there is the error! It is about seeking differentiation through a personalized website that breathes its own identity. Others can serve as inspiration, but a website should not be "traced", and less if that office is direct competition.

3. Lack of creativity

The legal sector is quite traditional, but that does not mean that the websites of the firms have to be excessively classic. Creativity when developing a website is essential to be able to draw the attention of the public you are targeting. The structure of the web, the images, the corporate elements and even the texts can be treated with creativity. 

4. Excessive text

It is very likely that Internet users who land on your firm's website do not stop to read all the text, and in law firms, it is usually the sin of inserting too much text and in a very compact way. This all-too-common practice makes the web difficult to digest and intuitive, so we run a high risk that users leave it looking for lighter content.

It is better to generate agile content, short phrases, good headlines and highlighted phrases that attract attention. You have to look for coherence between images and text, of course, but don't go overboard with literature. Less is more, and in this case it is highly recommended to summarize, get to the point and be very clear about the most relevant messages to transmit to our target audience.

5. Not thinking about SEO (organic online positioning in search engines)

No matter how good a website is, if SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is not worked on, it will be of little use to us. Identifying the keywords by which your potential clients can search for you, create content very focused on services, generate a space for the generation of content in a recurrent as a Blog, using external and internal links on the page or taking care of images are some of the aspects to take into account when developing a web page.

6. Not updating the website

It is highly recommended to have a content calendar and generate a number of posts on a recurring basis, addressing the areas of specialization of the firm, current content in relation to legal developments, milestones experienced by the firm such as incorporations, collaboration agreements, reviews of new satisfied customers, etc.

7. Websites not prepared for responsive

What does responsive mean? If a website does not adapt to the different devices that are present in our day to day, such as mobile phones or tablets, our website will be damaged.

In the first place, because today we consume a lot of internet through mobile phones, and it is very likely that a large number of users access your website from their phone, and if the website is unstructured and they do not understand it, they will abandon it without reason. doubt.

And secondly because it will harm us online positioning. Approximately 80% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices! A very high percentage to neglect the responsive.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression, which is why it is so important to have a good website, as it will be the loudspeaker of the office on the internet. We are not talking about something independent or unrelated to the firm, it is the firm's online presentation letter, and it must be perfectly clear what we do, who does it, how we do it and know how to present our competitive advantages, always thinking of the client as the center of our day to day.